My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 238 Princess's Warning: Remove Armor and Change Clothes!
When Hongli loudly reprimanded Cao Zhaoye, this real-life Jia Zheng, he was deliberately doing so so that the other bondservant present could hear.

Although Cao Zhaoye could not escape severe punishment, he could no longer be employed.

However, other misdeeds of his subordinates have not yet been revealed, and they will inevitably have to work for him in the future.

Therefore, he needed to use the reprimand of Cao Zhaoye as a warning to the other bondservants in advance.

To prevent other retainers from becoming arrogant after achieving prominence in the future.

At this moment, Cao Zhaoye could only sob uncontrollably, bowing his head and saying, "This servant was foolish and deserves to die ten thousand times!"

Hongli snorted and said no more to him, only ordering his men to continue searching the house.

At this moment, Madam Li could only sigh.

Over the years, she hadn't paid much attention to household affairs, living a peaceful life playing and joking with her grandchildren. Naturally, she never imagined that the heads of the Cao family had become so muddle-headed and incompetent, and even the servants had followed suit.

She knew that her adopted son was doomed to die, and the other family members who had committed the crime would likely not fare much better.

Because Emperor Yongzheng was not a merciful ruler. Since he had ordered the confiscation of the Cao family's property, which would expose more of their scandals, he had no intention of letting them off easily.

Now, all she wants is to die immediately so she won't have to face all of this.

But she also knew that she could not die. If she died, the rest of the Cao family who had not committed any crimes but were implicated and forced to return to the Xin Zhe Ku to perform labor for the Prince's mansion would be in an even worse situation.

After all, if she were alive, the Fourth Master would still give her some face because she was Fu Peng's maternal grandmother, and the stewards of the Prince's Mansion would also give some face to the Cao family and not be too harsh on them.

As the saying goes, the first generation is close, the second generation is distant, and the third and fourth generations are like strangers.

If she weren't around, even fewer people would be willing to help the Cao family.

Fu Peng understood the purpose of Hongli's instruction to Cao Zhaoye.

He is now increasingly angry about what his mother's clan has done.

Not only were many of the sons of her maternal clan, the Cao family, disappointing, but they were also found to have secretly possessed a golden lion and stolen royal property.

Fu Peng naturally did not complain that the court's confiscation of his property was wrong, but could only admit that it was his maternal clan's own fault, and that even if Cao Zhaoye and others were executed in the future, it would be their own fault.

After reprimanding Cao Zhaoye, Hongli ordered that Cao Zhaoye and other members of the Cao family who had committed offenses be imprisoned in the family temple.

The women were gathered in a main room in the backyard that had been searched. First, Jin, along with several strong women and nannies who accompanied her, removed the hairpins and other jewelry from their heads and made them change into cloth skirts and jackets.

Before they received their duties at the Prince's mansion or held official positions, they were no longer entitled to wear silks, satins, gold and silver jewelry, and these items would be confiscated and confiscated.

Madam Li first removed her gold hairpin and placed it in front of a tray brought by a strong woman.

Cao Yong's wife, Ma, also consciously took off her bracelet.

Li Yuchai, the matriarch of the Cao family, was somewhat saddened, but she did not dare to resist. She simply took off her earring with tears in her eyes.

The other women followed suit, and they all took off their brocade robes, just like Consort Nian removing her armor in a certain TV series. They had to take them all off and put on coarse cloth clothes.

"This is a reward from the master!"

However, among these women, some were still reluctant to part with these material possessions. One of the concubines of the Cao family head protected a necklace around her neck and refused to hand it over.

While the other strong women were restraining the concubine, one of the strong women took off her necklace, causing the concubine to sob sadly.

Seeing this, Madam Jin put her hands in front of her and walked to the front, her face serious: "Everyone, please cooperate! You must understand that your master has lost his official position, and all of you are now Fourth Master's bondservants. Since Fourth Master has been ordered to confiscate your property, he has the right to take back all the favors he has given you in the past. As bondservants, you cannot be ignorant of the rules!"

"Whoo!"

"Princess, please calm down."

"We dare not refuse to cooperate."

Madam Li responded respectfully.

A raid on a house is not something that can be completed in a short time.

Hongli first had the West Hall of the Jiangning Textile Bureau search the place, so that he could stay there temporarily.

The West Hall was originally Cao Yin's residence, so it was built to be quite exquisite and luxurious.

When Hongli arrived here, he saw that the houses rose one after another from south to north, complemented by artificial hills and ponds, which had a distinct Jiangnan beauty.

“Indeed, this is a place of gentle wealth and luxury. I hope your maternal clan will learn a lesson from losing all of this.” Hongli said this to Fu Peng, who had come to the West Hall with him.

Fu Peng gave a bitter laugh: "What Tang Mafa said is true. If they don't wake up, then no one can save them."

Hongli then entered Cao Yin's former study and saw the Complete Tang Poems, which was printed on cotton paper.

Hongli smiled and said, "This was compiled and printed by your Guo Luoma Fa, wasn't it?"

"Exactly."

Hongli then looked at other books on the bookshelf: "You go ahead and do your work."

"Whoo!"

Fu Peng then withdrew.

After Fu Peng left, Hongli took a copy of "Taiping Guangji" and sat down in a rattan chair to read it and relieve the summer heat.

A short while later, Li Zhenxia brought over a cup of tea: "Fourth Master, please have some."

Hongli didn't look up, only grunted in response, but then glanced at her and, seeing her worried expression, asked, "Are you worried about your sisters?"

“This servant dares not lie to Fourth Master. They have suddenly encountered a great change, and this servant is afraid that they cannot bear it, especially Sister Xiangyu and Sister Caoxuan. They are strong-willed and may clash with the nannies.”

Li Zhenxia lowered her head and replied.

Hongli said, "No matter who it is, they will be punished if they break the rules, and they will be no exception. Instead of worrying about them, you should do your own thing. You are a smart person and you should understand what I mean."

"My slave understands!"

In addition to confiscating the Cao family's property at their main residence in Jiangning, Hongli also sent people to monitor the locations where the Cao family had transferred and hidden their property, based on the information provided by Cao Zhaoye, to prevent these properties from being moved. This was so that after confiscating the main residence, they could also seize the property that had been transferred or hidden.

Hongli's brother-in-law, Fucha Fuqing, also accompanied Hongli south as a third-class imperial guard.

Emperor Hongli then sent him to Suzhou to monitor, based on Cao Zhaoye's testimony, whether a sum of silver hidden in the home of Pan Jianbin, the former Vice Minister of Rites, would be transferred, and to secretly investigate the local conditions in Suzhou.

However, in order not to alert the enemy and to see the true state of the people, Hongli instructed Fucha Fuqing not to easily reveal his true identity.

Therefore, Fucha Fuqing, under the guise of a merchant from the north, went ashore after arriving in Suzhou and inquired about the Pan family residence.

However, as soon as Fucha Fuqing arrived near the Pan residence, he was stopped by a group of richly dressed people. A man in red, holding a Japanese fan, spoke first and asked him, "Your horse is quite nice. How much do you want for it?"

Fucha Fuqing's horses were fine steeds from the Imperial Stables, naturally incomparable to ordinary horses.

But he only had the right to use it, not the right to buy or sell it, so he smiled and said, "Young master, please forgive me, this horse is not mine, so I cannot sell it."

"That must be a theft. Seize him and his horse and hand them over to the authorities!"

The man immediately gave the order with a stern face.

Then, five or six burly men came over and seized Fucha Fuqing.

Fucha Fuqing hurriedly said, "What are you doing? I'm not selling the horse, and you're just saying I stole it? Is there no law anymore?"

"You want to talk to me about the law?"

The man chuckled dismissively, then opened his folding fan: "I am the law!"

With that, the man walked away.

Fucha Fuqing struggled to speak when a burly man slapped him across the face.

"You better be smart. Our young master is the son of Vice Minister Pan. You're unlucky to have run into him!"

Fucha Fuqing gritted his teeth and endured it, not daring to reveal his identity now.

Hongli, unaware that his brother-in-law had encountered trouble in Suzhou, was sleeping with Li Zhenxia in his arms when Li Yu woke him from outside the door:
"Fourth Master, many wealthy merchants have come to see you. They say that the Imperial Textile Bureau owes them a lot of money and they have heard that Fourth Master is here to confiscate the Cao family's property. They have all come to beg Fourth Master to use the Cao family's wealth to pay off their debts."

Upon hearing this, Hongli immediately sat up and asked through the door, "Who are the people here?"

Li Yu replied, "There is Pan Jianxuan, a wealthy merchant from Suzhou, who is the younger brother of Vice Minister Pan; and Chen Qiao, a wealthy merchant from Huzhou, who is the son of Chen An, the Provincial Governor of Jiangxi..."

"They're certainly well-informed, coming to collect the debt so quickly. And that bastard Cao Zhaoye, he's made the deficit bigger and bigger, and now I have to clean up his mess!"

(End of this chapter)